


Meet Me Under the Tree

by thenostalgicdreamer



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/M, Gen, Riarkle, Second Grade, based on real life, farkle and riley - Freeform, seven year old Farkle, young Riarkle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:45:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenostalgicdreamer/pseuds/thenostalgicdreamer
Summary: Farkle ends up in the same class with Riley for second grade, and he is sure that it is one of the best things that has ever happened to him.





	Meet Me Under the Tree

**Author's Note:**

> for J. & S.   
> inspired by the way you never fail to find joy in each other

He is freak. It’s a reality that comes to his consciousness early. He’s not like other kids, and he can’t act like them. He can’t be friends in the same way they can because he doesn’t know how to act like they do. He is just different; he knows that because people call him a robot and remark about how un-human he is. They’re right. He knows he is brilliant and that that is going to ensure him a bright future. He is going to change the world by being its ruler or perhaps if he can’t a mad scientist. Still, he feels the burn of being different. Sometimes all he wants is to be like everyone else even just for a day, but he can’t. It is impossible plain and simple; that’s just not the way life works.

His parents reassure him that he’s fine. He is human and special, and they love him. Farkle thinks they say that because he’s their son. People love their sons or at least good people do. He hears his dad brag about his genius often, and he wonders if his dad would even want him to be normal. Perhaps not, he seems to have so much pride in who Farkle is. 

Sometimes, Farkle thinks he would sink if it weren’t for Riley. She’s an angel, the angel who miraculously came into his life when he transferred from dual immersion kindergarten to public school. This year for second grade, they’re in the same class, and Farkle is sure that it is one of the best things that has ever happened to him. He likes school fine—math is fun and so is recess and lunch, and he does have other friends. But none of those things quite compare to Riley. Being with her for every moment of the school day, well, that is what happiness feels like.

Riley is joy. She comes in every day happy; her feet are dancing, and her eyes are sparkling. When she sees him, she always smiles and waves the loudest wave. Waves are silent, but Riley’s is somehow loud at the same time with its overeager motion. Her hair is long and bounces when she walks perhaps because she never really walks at all but rather bounces—up and down, up and down. It doesn’t matter where they’re going or what they’re doing she’s always excited because she know it will be good. She is bright and kind and full of life, and that makes her very beautiful. She dresses like the sunshine she is with shirts with puppies and rainbows and words that sound like they would come out of her mouth. Her skirts are swirly and colorful and remind him of rainbow confetti. 

Riley—how could he say everything that she is? She sees past his freakish nature and appreciates him for who he is. Before he met her, he had always thought that he never would meet anyone who would. She makes him feel this warmth inside too many times a day to count, and he is good at math. She never fails to smile when she sees him—a special smile she never smiles at anyone else. She usually says his name too loud enough for everyone to hear. There’s excitement in her tone, and knowing he’s made her happy makes him happy too. And she always finds her way behind him in line even though they’re always supposed to line up in order. Riley is so sweet and innocent and such a rule follower, but she chooses to make an exception for him. Somehow, Miss Snyder never says anything. Farkle isn’t sure whether she notices, but if she does, all she does is smile. Whenever Riley has cold lunch like him, she finagles things to sit by him at the lunch table. She’s always happy to sit there with him, and it’s so affirming to know he is her favorite person in the world except Maya.

He has always loved recess, but she makes it the best. Some days, he plays wall ball because it’s his favorite and he can’t stay away for too long. Riley’s scared of the ball so she never plays, but he has seen her watching him more than once. She always cheers for him when she’s there; spectators don’t cheer. But Riley doesn’t care what anyone does or says or thinks. She just does her own thing. All he has to say, though, is meet me at the tree and he knows she’ll be there. It’s the old one by the fence, and he can’t tell you how many times he has met her there because it’s been a lot. They always decide what they’re going to do first, and then she grabs his hand, and they’re off. Sometimes, they walk the perimeter of the fence of the playground and talk about happy things; other times, they join a group that’s playing tag. No matter what they do, he’s happy, and she looks like it’s the best recess she’s ever had. 

No matter what happens at school, she is always looking for him and trying to be with him. That means so much. He is not sure he could really explain. So he just looks for opportunities to show her that he appreciates their friendship and that all her love and care is not nothing to him. He raises his hand to tell the class he agrees with her answers in math, and he always gives her a thumbs-up when Miss Snyder recognizes her good behavior. Acknowledging Riley feels so right because she is so tremendously special. He wants nothing more than for her to understand that too.

As much as he loves seeing Riley at school, the best thing is when they go on play dates. He feels so lucky her parents trust his parents enough to let them hang out. That’s not something that happens much. Even if they can get past his oddity, most parents question the sanity of someone who would name their kid Farkle. But it has never been that way with Riley; he has been going on play dates with her since the beginning. As much as he’d like to think it was her pleading, he knows he owes it all to the fact that their parents were school friends. He never stops feeling glad that things worked out like this—that he gets to spend so much time with his favorite person.

His favorite play dates are when they go out of the city and stargaze. He loves science, and even before they went stargazing together, he knew Riley with her love for beautiful things would love it too. It would have been hard to get someone to take them except he waited to ask until Mrs. Matthews was out of town for work, and without her around, Mr. Matthews was very eager for the adventure. They had set out for the countryside with Farkle’s telescope. They had seen five planets and many stars. Riley had never seen stars like that, and seeing Pluto had made her so happy she had clapped her hands and told him thank you. They have gone a few more times, and every time is his favorite. Doing what he loves and seeing Riley happy fills him with so much joy he feels his heart could burst. 

Riley is so much, perhaps too much to him really because Farkle doesn’t know what he would do if she were not there. She is so special, so unique, so unlike any other person he has ever met. And somehow, he thinks that this won’t happen again. He won’t meet anyone else he likes this much. The connection they have is so real yet so hard for him to understand, let alone describe. Riley is the sun—warm and bright and lights up his whole day. All he can hope is that she will never stop meeting him under the tree.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by real life seven year old best buddies J. and S.


End file.
